Qazaza
| Qazaza | ||
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 Qazaza
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| Arabic | قزازة | |
| District | Ramla | |
| Coordinates | 31°46′43.58″N 34°52′33.96″E / 31.7787722°N 34.8761°ECoordinates: 31°46′43.58″N 34°52′33.96″E / 31.7787722°N 34.8761°E | |
| Population | 940 (1945) | |
| Area | 18,829 dunums | |
| Date of depopulation | 9–10 July 1948[2] | |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Influence of nearby town's fall | |
| Current localities | Israel Defense Forces base | |
Qazaza (Arabic: قزازة) was a Palestinian village, located 19 kilometers (12 mi) south of Ramla. It was depopulated in 1948.
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[edit] History
A European traveler reported that he passed Qazaza in the 1860s on his way to examine a nearby tell.[3] The villagers of Qazaza, who were predominantly Muslim, maintained a village mosque and some owned shops. An elementary school was first established in Qazaza in 1922. In 1945 Qazaza joined with the villagers of Sajad and Jilya and established a common school for all the three villages. This school had 127 students at the time of its founding in 1945.[1]
The villagers cultivated grain, vegetables and fruits. In 1944/45 a total of 11,757 dunums were allocated to cereals, while 131 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.[1]
[edit] 1948 War and aftermath
During the countdown to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Haganah was ordered to demolish Arab houses in socalled "retaliatory measures". In this connection Haganah units partially destroyed the home of the mukhtar of Qazaza, Abdullah Abu Sabah, on the 19 December 1947, in response to the killing of a Jew.[4]
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, Qazaza was defended by the Egyptian Army and local militiamen. Its population of an estimated 1,090 Arabs fled after the fall of a neighbouring town (Sajad). On 9 July 1948, as part of Operation An-Far, Israel's Givati Brigade captured the village.[citation needed]
On 16 July 1948, Givati HQ informed General Staff\Operations that "our forces have entered the villages of Qazaza, Kheima, Jilya, Idnibba, Mughallis, expelled the inhabitants, [and] blown up and torched a number of houses. The area is at the moment clear of Arabs".[5]
Many of Qazaza's former inhabitants fled to Hebron, forming part of the 1948 Palestinian exodus.[6]
Today, the village lands are used by the Israel Defense Forces. As a closed military zone, it is not known what became of Qazaza's mosque, its elementary school (which had served the villages of Sajad and Jilya as well) or its more than 150 homes.[6]
[edit] See also
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- Palestine Railways
- Jaffa–Jerusalem railway
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Khalidi, 1992, p. 405
- ^ Morris, 2004, p xix, village number 265. Also gives cause of depupulation
- ^ Mansell, 1862, p.506. Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 405
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. 343
- ^ Givati HQ to General Staff\Operations, 20:50 hours, 16 July 1948, IDFA 922\75\\1176. See also Givati Brigade, "Combat Page", 16 July 1948, IDFA 6127\49\\118. Cited in Morris, 2004, p. 437
- ^ a b "Welcome to Qazaza". Palestine Remembered. http://www.palestineremembered.com/al-Ramla/Qazaza/index.html. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
[edit] Bibliography
- Khalidi, Walid (1992). All that Remains. Washington DC: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- le Strange, Guy (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. http://www.archive.org/details/palestineundermo00lestuoft
- Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521009677, 9780521009676
